PJC Journal – IanPJ on Politics

Crown Office ‘BLOCKED’ Strathclyde Police demands for search warrants to investigate Glasgow Council leader Steven Purcell & City Building quango
Claims made Crown Office refused Police the power to raid Glasgow City Council buildings & ex Council leader Purcell. Credible claims backed up by leaked documents have been made to investigative journalists showing the most senior officials & prosecutors at the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) under former Lord Advocate now Dame Elish Angiolini DBE QC, (born McPhilomy) BLOCKED a series of applications for search warrants made by Strathclyde Police to raid premises connected with shamed ex Glasgow City Council boss Steven Purcell & the Council’s arms length organisation City Building, an organisation which was set up under Mr Purcell prior to his shamed exit as leader of Glasgow City Council after revelations in the media of cocaine addiction and other irregularities at the City Council which caused the former Council leader to flee the country in 2010.


A “key player” in moves at the time to investigate Steven Purcell and the many arms length organisations (ALEOs) of Glasgow City Council which faced serious allegations of corruption & political favouritism involving Scottish Labour figures has now disclosed at least FOUR applications for search warrants made by Strathclyde Police to raid private premises and even City Council buildings were REFUSED by the Crown Office under the then Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini. Dame Angiolini as she is now known, was appointed to the position of Lord Advocate in 2006 by the then First Minister, Jack McConnell, now Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale.


On top of the suspicious string of search warrant refusals, a series of written exchanges & accounts of meetings between Police & prosecutors which cannot be published for legal reasons show Police Officers growing frustration over a lack of cooperation from the Crown Office, with one officer claiming “… it appeared the Crown Office did not want the Police to investigate Mr Purcell or any kind of wrongdoing at Glasgow City Council.”


One now retired insider told an investigating journalist earlier this week : “I often wondered if the Crown Office itself had been infiltrated by organised crime to the same extent some of the organisations we were investigating at the time appeared to be”.


Further, more serious allegations have also been made against some of Glasgow’s ‘long time’ party political figures, where it is alleged several councillors & members of one particular political party (guess which one ? – Ed) have “financial & social links to organised crime families” which have been well known to Police for years, yet all attempts by Strathclyde Police to pursue these allegations have allegedly failed due to what one insider referred to as “political based interference from the Crown Office”.


The unnamed “key player” has also disclosed a series of what can only be described as “threatening letters” sent from an UNNAMED Glasgow based private law firm which has also been linked back to its representing of senior figures at the Crown Office and in Scotland’s judiciary. It has been alleged the contents of the letters and notes of telephone conversations which are now known to journalists, formed part of a plan to thwart any substantive investigation into Mr Purcell and Glasgow City Council.


Concern was expressed in some of the meetings that it appeared the law firm involved “.. had been well briefed from the inside on the ongoing Police investigations of Purcell & City Building to the point the lawyer appeared to know every move Strathclyde Police officers made on the case.” Commenting on the changing patterns of suspects who appeared to “be aware of“ the Police investigation, one insider alleged “the inside knowledge some appeared to have of the investigation was probably used to warn suspects they were under observation.”


It is now of course widely known, the same law firm, LEVY MCRAE, who represented the shamed Glasgow City Council leader Steven Purcell, ALSO represented the then serving Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini in connection with allegations made in the Hollie Greig abuse case, which recently saw Robert Green, the Greig family’s legal adviser & campaigner jailed for ONE YEAR after he was arrested in February 2010 for handing out leaflets calling for an inquiry into allegations of abuse against downs syndrome victim Hollie Greig.


No explanations have ever been offered as to why Scotland’s top law officer used the same law firm who attempted to block media coverage of the Purcell Cocaine scandal and who operate for clients based in the notorious offshore tax haven of the Cayman Islands.


Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill worked at, has ties to same law firm used by then Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini in interdict case. As details of the Hollie Greig case began to be reported in the wider press, it emerged the Scottish Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill has personal links to LEVY MCRAE, the law firm employed by the then Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini in legal action over the abuse case allegations. Mr MacAskill has made no comment on the fact he served his apprenticeship at Levy McRae and also worked at the firm for a considerable time during his years as a solicitor before he entered politics. The revelations of MacAskill’s links to Levy McRae, the same law firm who represented Steven Purcell, were reported by Scottish Law Reporter at the time, HERE


Former Lord Advocate now Dame Elish Angiolini employed Cayman Islands hopping lawyers from Glasgow. Previously reported, the then Lord Advocate, now Dame Elish Angiolini had employed private law firm Levy McRae to serve interdicts on Mr Green in connection with his campaign to ‘out’ alleged abusers of downs syndrome victim Hollie Greig. Glasgow law firm Levy McRae who later represented shamed former Glasgow City Council Boss & Cocaine addict Steven Purcell, proceeded to threaten several media outlets & journalists over their reporting of the case, covered by Scottish Law Reporter HERE & HERE. The Purcell scandal caused some newspapers to ‘evaluate’ their relationship with Levy McRae, details of which were featured in a report here : HERE


Scottish Law Reporter recently published an investigation into the knighthood of Angiolini, apparently recommended by the Scottish Government. Dame Elish Angiolini was also appointed Ministerial complaints adviser to Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond. More recently, Dame Elish Angiolini was also appointed to the post of Principal of St Hugh’s College, Oxford.